lauraw

In the Tsarnaev trial, they have reached the target number of 70 jurors, which will be whittled down to 18 on Tuesday and Wednesday, March 3rd and 4th. There will be a final pre-trial hearing on Monday. When the trial began on January 5, Judge O’Toole had the delusion that

Many thanks to pbszebra for faithfully passing on daily Tweets from some of the more responsible journalists attending the Tsarnaev trial. (Tweets in bold followed by my comments.) “Judge O’Toole acknowledges Tsarnaev jury questioning is going slower than anticipated, but is not discouraged. ‘Making real progress.’” MissieB31 retweeted: “O’Toole hired

Thanks to Margo Schulter, omramzey and EternalVigilance for ideas in this article. Is it now officially OK to stack the legal deck against an American citizen who has been accused of terrorism? Noble words about the fairness of the American justice system are being trumped by the dictates of Homeland

Carmen Ortiz has routinely used the media to make her case against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. One might think she would wait to do it in the courtroom, and wonder why she doesn’t. The defense is very concerned about these media leaks, especially those channeled by the Islamophobic journalist Michelle McPhee. Judge

The tone of Judge O’Toole’s latest ruling is one of the certainties we have come to rely on. O’T has denied the defense’s request for additional info concerning, among other things: pre-2013 communication from the Russian government, forensic computer reports, and Waltham murder documents. The judge did make one interesting comment: that

A recent Tsarnaev status conference featured a protest which included Ibragim Todashev’s mother-in-law Elena Teyer and Muslim Observer blogger Karin Friedemann. Metro talked to the protesters, and also interviewed a bystander who believes in the American justice system: Grad student Sean Hughes, who debated with Tsarnaev’s supporters outside Moakley Courthouse, believes massive

A few threads back we were discussing the Tsarnaev defense’s Motion for Continuance. In Exhibit G attached to this motion, explosives expert Frederic Whitehurst stated that the thousands of photos and video he had been given “did not appear to depict all of the evidence from the crime scene.” (Certainly

It wasn’t about kilts and bagpipes. It was about economics and political power. On September 18, 55% of Scots voted to remain in the United Kingdom. 45% supported the Yes-Scotland initiative, voting in support of a Scottish divorce from England. The division was largely along class lines: the rich voted

The Tsarnaev defense has requested a change of venue to Washington, D.C. (Chances are slim and none, imo.) However, Carmen Ortiz has taken the trouble to write a 26-page response. In light of the question posed by pbszebra, “Will Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Get a Fair Trial or Won’t He?” further discussion